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Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: As Donald Trump continues his tough talk on trade, he's chosen a pro-trade governor to be the next ambassador to China. Terry Branstad has served six terms as Iowa's governor. He was a steady supporter of Trump throughout the campaign. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) TERRY BRANSTAD: The future of our country is at stake. We've got to have new leadership. We've got to have strong leadership. And we need to make...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: Now, if it feels like you've been hearing a lot lately about generals being tapped to join the incoming Trump administration, you are correct. John Kelly is the third in a list that may keep growing, and that's raising questions about the wisdom of packing the highest ranks of government with so much military brass. NPR's national security correspondent Mary Louise Kelly is here in the studio. Welcome. MARY...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: Multiple news outlets are reporting that President-elect Donald Trump will nominate retired General John Kelly to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly would be the latest in a string of military officers that Trump wants on his White House team. DHS enforces immigration and border security laws, topics that were central to Trump's campaign platform. He promised to build a wall along the southern border...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The CEOs of AT&T and Time Warner were on Capitol Hill today defending their proposed $85 billion merger before a Senate antitrust panel. Republicans for the most part were sympathetic to the idea that the merger might benefit consumers - Democrats not so much. They were skeptical that the country needs another big media merger. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports. YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Republican Michael Lee of Utah opened...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: President-elect Donald Trump is defending his surprise attack on the Boeing Corporation, which briefly caused some turbulence in the company's stock price yesterday. Trump has suggested Boeing may be overcharging the U.S. government to produce new versions of Air Force One. This morning on NBC's "Today" show, Trump said this is just part of the negotiation. (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TODAY") DONALD TRUMP: I spoke to a...

Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: The federal hate crimes trial against Dylann Roof began today in South Carolina. He's the man prosecutors say killed nine worshippers at a historic black church last year. They say Roof wanted to start a race war. NPR's Debbie Elliott was in court today. She joins us now from outside the federal courthouse in Charleston. And Debbie, I understand it was actually a rather dramatic day of opening testimony, and a...

President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency, announcing his decision in a statement Thursday. As attorney general, Pruitt has made no secret of his disdain for the EPA. His official biography calls him "a leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda." He has repeatedly challenged the agency's rules in court, and he has even sued the EPA for an allegedly cozy "sue and settle"...

When AT&T, a leading Internet provider, proposed a massive merger with Time Warner, a huge media conglomerate, the question many people asked was: Will I have to pay more for my TV? On Wednesday, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee quizzed the CEOs of the two companies — over and over posing basically the same question: What will the $85.4 billion merger mean for the prices that consumers may have to pay? AT&T is the second-largest wireless Internet provider and one of the largest...

The death toll from a disastrous warehouse fire in Oakland, Calif., stands at 36 after authorities have ended recovery efforts, officials say. Firefighters and investigators have been searching the site for days, since the artists' collective known as the "Ghost Ship" burned down late Friday night, during a dance party. They briefly halted efforts when a wall was discovered to be leaning, calling in structural engineers to ensure the safety of recovery workers. The end of recovery efforts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhdymoRTz6M The Weather Channel has a message for the website Breitbart: "Earth Is Not Cooling, Climate Change Is Real and Please Stop Using Our Video to Mislead Americans" That's the title under which The Weather Channel published an article on Tuesday , after Breitbart used the cable news channel's coverage in a factually incorrect story about climate change. The article addressed Breitbart's misleading use of a Nov. 3 Weather Channel video in which forecaster...